Wager-based gaming is a multi-billion dollar industry with sustained popularity. Gaming entities, such as casinos appeal to many different audiences and provide one or more of a variety of available different gaming devices. Mechanical reel gaming machines are a staple of the gaming industry. FIG. 1 illustrates one example of a mechanical reel gaming machine 40 including a cabinet 42 housing reel assemblies 44 that are mechanically rotatable within the cabinet 42. Each reel assembly 44 includes a reel strip 46 positioned on a circumference of a cylindrically shaped reel basket 50. Each reel strip 46 has a broad exterior surface depicting a variety of gaming symbols or gaming icons 48. The gaming icons 48 face outwardly and are circumferentially spaced from one another about the reel strip 46. During play, reel assemblies 44 are each independently rotated and stopped to display the gaming icons 48 relative to one or more paylines to reveal predetermined winning or losing combinations of the gaming icons 48. The reel assemblies 44 undergo many spin-stop cycles over a typical lifespan of the gaming machine 40. The useful life of the gaming machine 40 is often extended by “re-skinning” the gaming machine 40 to a different game theme. Such re-skinning may involve reusing each existing reel basket 50 with a new reel strip 46 corresponding to the new game theme.
FIG. 2 illustrates one example of a prior art reel assembly 44 including the reel strip 46 supported by a reel basket 50. The reel basket 50 includes an inner drive ring 52, an outer ring 54 spaced from the inner drive ring 52, and cross links 56 extending from the inner drive ring 52 to the outer ring 54. The reel strip 46 is fairly thin and includes an exterior surface 58, an interior surface 59, and opposing elongated edges 60 (FIG. 5). The interior surface 59 of the reel strip 46 is placed over the cross links 56 and the opposing elongated edges 60 are each secured to a different one of the inner drive ring 52 and the outer ring 54. With reference to FIGS. 3-5, each of the inner drive ring 52 and the outer ring 54 defines a peripheral annual groove 62 facing inwardly toward the other of the inner drive ring 52 and the outer ring 54. Each peripheral annual groove 62 includes protrusions or tabs 64 therein circumferentially spaced from one another along and interrupting the otherwise continuous extension of the peripheral annual groove 62. In this example, the reel strip 46 includes inwardly extending notches 66 spaced along each of the opposing elongated edges 60. Each notch 66 is sized and shaped to snugly receive one of the tabs 64 in a manner registering and maintaining a position of the reel strip 46 relative to the reel basket 50.
While the above-described reel assembly 44 allows for relatively easy replacement of reel strips 46 when the gaming machine 40 is rebranded or otherwise updated, it has multiple drawbacks. For example, the tangential forces from repeated spinning and stopping cycles for a typical reel assembly 44 often results in overstressing of the cross links 56, which may lead to partial or complete failure of the cross links 56 and corresponding reel tilt and/or drive motor overload. In addition, prolonged periods of use of the reel assemblies 44 gradually causes wear and additional play is introduced to the reel assemblies 44 further resulting in undesirable gaps in the appearance of the reel assemblies 44 and distracting wobble when the reel assemblies are rotating.
Furthermore, adhered ends of the reel strip 46 often become loose and/or uncouple from one another potentially leading to release of the reel strip 46 or a portion thereof from a remainder of the reel assembly 44. Reel strips 46 are also relatively easily misaligned with a remainder of the reel assembly 44 where notches 66 do not fully align with tabs 64 and/or where opposing elongated edges 60 of the reel strip 46 release from annular grooves 62 of the inner drive ring 52 and the outer ring 54. These issues with the reels strips 46 are generally quite visible to gamers operating the gaming machine 40 and, thereby, degrade the overall aesthetic appeal of the gaming machine 40 as well as the overall establishment housing the gaming machine 40.
Typically, backlighting is provided to the reel strip 46 to highlight selected ones of the gaming icons 48. However, the cross links 56 may create undesired shadowing across the reel strip 46 when exposed to such lighting. Although this undesirable shadow effect can be minimized by utilizing translucent material for the cross links 56, the shadow effect is often still observable because the translucent material is never 100% transmissive or transparent. Making the cross links 56 thinner may minimize the shadow effect, but also weakens the overall structural integrity of the reel assembly 44.
FIG. 6 illustrates a typical coupling of the reel assembly 44 to a drive motor 70 (FIG. 2). In this example, the drive motor 70 includes a protruding drive shaft 72 coupled with the inner drive ring 52. The inner drive ring 52 includes a center hub 74 with a hollow cylinder 76 protruding outwardly therefrom. An inner diameter of the hollow cylinder 76 is closely sized with an outer diameter of the drive shaft 72 to eliminate gaps which could cause wobble of the rotating reel assembly 44. The drive shaft 72 is positioned through and maintained substantially within the hollow cylinder 76 to couple the drive motor 70 to the inner drive ring 52. The hollow cylinder and the drive shaft 72 are typically keyed to one another to allow a controller to precisely stop the reel assembly 44 from rotating at a predetermined stationary position in accordance with a specific game outcome. The reel assembly 44 is secured to the drive shaft 42 by a slidable e-clip 78 that is slid onto and thereby secured to a portion of the drive shaft 72 extending beyond an end of the hollow cylinder 76.
The above-described coupling requires the slidable e-clip 78 for assembly as well as tools for inserting and/or removing the separate e-clip 78. In instances where the proper tools are not readily available, the slidable e-clip 78 may not be properly slid onto the drive shaft 72 resulting in the slidable e-clip 78 disengaging the drive shaft 72. As a result, the reel assembly 44 may undesirably tilt relative to the drive shaft 72 or even entirely dislodge from the drive shaft 72. Additionally, the e-clip 78 is relatively small in size contributing to the likelihood that it will be inadvertently lost during routine maintenance of the reel assembly 44.
As previously mentioned, the reel assembly 44 typically includes lighting behind the reel strip 46 providing rear illumination to gaming icons 48 of reel strip 46 facing a front of gaming machine 40 to increase the visual appeal of gaming machine 40 as illustrated in FIG. 7. Such lighting is typically provided in the form of a plurality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs; not shown) mounted on a series of separate printed circuit board (PCB) members generally indicated at 82 supported by one light bracket 80. The light bracket 80 directs light from the LEDs toward a front of the gaming machine 40 (FIG. 1), and the LEDs typically are arranged to light up individual ones of the gaming icons 48 when the reel assembly 44 remains stationary and/or rotates within the gaming machine 40. The large number of wires and electrical connections that need to be made between the separate PCB boards increases the cost and complexity of installation and servicing.